"Yugito, don't tell me you've fallen for Aoba?"
Samui looked into Yugito's eyes, her expression full of suspicion.
"Wha-what?"
Hearing that, Yugito's face changed dramatically, "Samui, what nonsense are you talking about? How could I possibly like that scumbag Aoba?"
As she spoke, her cheeks puffed up, her face full of anger and frustration.
But Samui didn't say anything, she just looked at her quietly.
"I-I would never like that kind of awful guy."
Feeling uneasy under Samui's stare, Yugito couldn't help but protest again.
"I don't think so," Mabui suddenly said.
"What do you mean?", Yugito's face was full of question marks.
Mabui continued, "Aoba isn't just handsome and sunny-looking. At such a young age, he already has the power to easily defeat a tailed beast. His personality is approachable and easy to get along with, and he never uses his strength to bully others. No matter how you look at it, he's a very outstanding ninja."
Yugito's mouth dropped open as she stared at Mabui in disbelief.
"Mabui, you—"
"She's right," Samui nodded in agreement before she could finish.
"Although I haven't interacted with him much, from what I've seen of him handling Hokage duties, he's calm, capable, and mature. As a partner, he wouldn't be a bad choice."
By now, Yugito was completely stunned. She never expected her two best friends to have such a high opinion of that scumbag Aoba.
But when she thought about it carefully… aside from being a bit of a womanizer, it was true there weren't many other flaws to be found in him.
Seeing Yugito standing there dumbfounded, Samui went on, "So, Yugito, if you really don't like Aoba, I'd be happy to switch places with you. No pressure or anything."
Of course, it wasn't that she had any romantic interest in Aoba or wanted to push the two together, she just hoped Yugito would recognize her true feelings. That way, no matter what decision she made later, she wouldn't regret it.
Otherwise, with Yugito's stubborn and prideful personality, the only one who'd end up suffering would be her.
Besides, given her intelligence, without someone to back her up, she'd probably take quite a few losses in Konoha.
"..."
Yugito puffed out her cheeks again, unable to say a word.
After a long silence, she finally spoke with a flushed face, "He wouldn't agree to switch anyway, because… because Aoba said… that he likes me."
"Hm?"
Samui and Mabui both widened their eyes. Clearly they hadn't expected that kind of juicy gossip. If they'd known earlier, they wouldn't have wasted so many words.
"Spill it!"
"You two—"
Seeing Samui and Mabui's eyes sparkling with excitement, their faces practically glowing with curiosity, Yugito's mouth twitched, "I came here to see you two, why are you talking about Aoba this, Aoba that, whole time? Can't we talk about something happy for once?"
Mabui was already smiling like an aunt watching a romance drama.
"Yugito, a guy finally likes you! Isn't that something to be happy about?"
It was worth mentioning that although Yugito had earned the respect and admiration of the villagers through her hard work as a jinchuriki, her identity as a host and her naturally proud personality meant she often acted with a queenly attitude. Very few men had ever held romantic feelings toward her.
Yugito puffed up her face again, "Is it really that rare for someone to like me?"
"No, no, we didn't mean that. We just want to know, what's going on between you and Aoba?"
As it turns out, no matter what kind of girls they were, none could escape the instinct to gossip.
However, no matter how they probed or hinted, Yugito didn't let out a single word.
It wasn't until their workday ended that Yugito finally breathed a sigh of relief, as if she'd just survived a deadly battle.
"Samui, Mabui, if you two are like this again tomorrow, I'm not coming back!"
Before leaving, she clenched her fists and threatened them like a sulking child.
"We're only worried about you! This is an important matter for your future, we've got to help you think it through."
Mabui said with a soft smile.
"Not necessary!"
Yugito denied it flatly, her tone loud and firm.
Mabui could only shake her head helplessly.
"Yugito, after we get off work tonight, do you want to go have dinner together?", Samui suddenly asked.
"Uh… maybe not tonight. Let's have dinner together tomorrow instead."
Yugito almost agreed instinctively, but then remembered that Aoba had told her to come back early that evening. After hesitating a moment, she refused.
"Why not tonight but yes tomorrow?", Samui seemed to catch something, "Could it be you already have plans with someone tonight?"
"No!", Yugito's gaze drifted slightly, "It's just… I didn't say I was eating out. If I eat outside, it might… not be good."
"So you do have a date tonight."
Yugito had never been good at lying, Samui and Mabui could tell instantly.
"Ugh!"
Yugito's face turned bright red.
"Alright, alright, Samui, stop teasing her."
Mabui chuckled softly, then looked at Yugito again, her expression turning serious.
"Yugito, we've never been in love ourselves, so we don't really know if you actually like Aoba or not. We can't give you proper advice."
"But there are plenty of books about romance in Konoha's bookstores. If you're interested, you could go take a look."
"I… I got it."
Yugito nodded quickly, afraid they'd say something even more outrageous, and ran off without looking back.
Watching Yugito's flustered figure disappear, Mabui couldn't help sighing, "So that's what Yugito looks like when she likes someone, huh?"
"With her personality, it's going to take a long time before they actually get together," Samui said helplessly.
"But still… I didn't expect Aoba to choose Yugito of all people," Mabui added.
"What do you mean by that?", Samui looked at her, puzzled.
Mabui's eyes flicked toward Samui's full, almost bursting chest.
"With Aoba's personality, you're clearly the more attractive one. Maybe he just likes that tsundere attitude Yugito has?"
Samui's cold face was filled with speechless irritation. She rolled her shoulders slightly.
"What's attractive about it? For female ninja, this is just a burden. Stand too long and your shoulders ache."
Mabui immediately looked at her with pure disdain, but Samui went on.
"Besides, maybe Aoba chose Yugito first because he likes to tackle the hard challenges before the easy ones."